The only thing memorable about director Benjamin Stoloff's otherwise forgettable comedy "Soup to Nuts" is that it offered audiences their first glimpse of the Three Stooges. Unfortunately, this tepid laffer about a down-on-his-luck costume store owner who goes bankrupt provides the Stooges with only modest exposure. Wisecracking, know-it-all, Schmidt Costume Shop salesman Ted (vaudeville comic Ted Healy of "Bombshell") prefers to hang out with his low wattage pals at the local fire station. They are Shemp, Moe, and Larry who formed the Three Stooges. They don't get a chance to indulge in their slapstick as they would in their later shorts and feature films. Basically, they are fireman who cavort on their ladder fire truck. Cartoonist Rube Goldberg penned the plot for this absurd adventure. It appears that Otto Schmidt (Charles Winninger of "Ziegfeld Girl")lavishes too much time on idle projects, like self-tipping hat, a burglar alarm that involves several gadgets, and complicated device that sweetens coffee. He goes bankrupt and has to turn his costume shop over to creditors. Richard Carlson (Stanley Smith) takes over the store, while Otto takes a job as a waiter at Gus's restaurant. Under no circumstances does Otto want his niece Louise (Lucile Browne) to get wind of his misfortune. Naturally, Louise learns about it at about the same time that Richard lays eyes on her and knows that she is the gal for him. Predictably, Louise wants nothing to do with the dastardly Richard who spends the bulk of this 71-minute epic struggling to win her approval. "Soup to Nuts" contains a rather thin plot with a romantic subplot. Recommended only for die-hard Three Stooges fans because the humor here is creaky.

The film is tedious and clunky. (Howard J. Green, credited as continuity director, should never have worked in film again.) But one single scene redeems everything else (on the DVD, No. 18, Three Charming Boys). Here the film's storyline (thankfully) comes to a complete halt. In a stationary, medium shot filmed in one take, Ted Healy, Moe, Larry and Shemp recreate a vaudeville routine that is as close to seeing the Stooges live on stage as exists anywhere (unless there's still a 100-year-old audience member still alive and kicking somewhere). When Healy calls his Stoooges into the shot, he takes an instinctive step to his right, as he undoubtedly had done night after night on the live stage. The routine is more rehearsed than anything else in the film (for obvious reasons), illustrated best when Healy reads a letter Shemp has written and Shemp mouths the contents of the letter along with Healy. Stooge aficionados will be particularly interested to note that Shemp, not Moe functions as the boss Stooge.

Probably the only reason anyone watches this today is to see the first film appearance of The Three Stooges; and any viewer looking for Stoogic brilliance will necessarily be disappointed. But taken on its own terms, there's a good deal to appreciate in this bizarre little number. The attempt to translate Rube Goldberg's comics to a cinematic format results in some hilarious moments. There are also some big laughs from a comedian named Freddy Sanborne, who ludicrously overplays his role as a gay slapstick fireman (this movie was made prior to the Hayes Code, when the character's obvious homosexuality was permissible comedy fodder). The Stooges themselves are disappointing. Their number included Shemp at this time (this was PRE-Curly), and Larry gets more dialog than Moe. They generate a few nyuks, but if you're after great Stooge viewing, you've come to the wrong place. I give this one 6 stars out of 10.

This was an unusual movie. That Fred Sanborn has got to be as strange a comedian as there ever was in a movie. It's really bizarre. The stooges are fireman and do their thing with Ted Healy batting them around. Probably wouldn't seem so bad if you did not know what they would do later.